LANSING, Mich. - Forty-one public school districts ended
2008-2009 in the red, according to preliminary state data reported in The
Detroit News, up from 27 deficit districts the previous year. Media reports
from around the state suggest that communities have varied ideas about how to
keep that list from growing.

The districts on the list overspent their revenue during
2008-2009, even before this year's budget cut and proration that is expected to
reduce school funding by about $292 per student, The News reported.

While parents in some communities are calling on the state
to increase school funding, residents of other communities are calling on
unionized school employees to consider contract concessions, according to
various media reports.

In a separate report, The News said that parents have
rallied at several school districts to support more school funding; the West
Bloomfield Educational Foundation has asked parents to donate $1 a day to the
district.

In Saline Public Schools, the board of education has asked
unionized employees to reopen their contracts and consider wage and benefit
changes, according to a report at AnnArbor.com. At a meeting in Hemlock Public
Schools, a school bus driver suggested that every district employee take a 10
percent pay cut, according to The Saginaw News.